Riot

I was glancing over at the Irreplaceable Items threat that heel posted in Public Discussion and noticed one poster saying that still had not replace neither their Life Giving Gem nor Styleen's Impeding Scarab.

Are these trinkets still mathematically superior than the new BC tanking trinkets out there?

Is Scarab of Displacement really the new pinnacle of tanking trinkets?

Personally, my own philosophy has been to shift away from +Defense trinkets that can be booted once you have the requisite Defense for the cap. Thus, as my gear improved, I gave that Adamantine Figurine and Regal Protectorate the boot, and replaced them with Moroes Lucky Pocket Watch and Argussian Compass, the former of which is I think a fantastic trinket with a great cooldown that I use quite a bit, (such as riding out those last few ticks of Sunder Armor Malchezaar can apply, or RUT ROH, I pulled a Stagehand, pls help me, God) and the Compass has the hefty +36 stamina and a passable clickie.

But of course, I'm curious: Are these old trinkets really still superior? Are you still using them? What do you prefer?

 

suicuique

I still use Styleens.
The second one i choose depending on the encounter from pocketwatch/autoblocker(very nice in 5mans)/dabiris enigma or even drakefang. LGG I dont use anylonger.

The compass hasnt dropped for me yet.

 

Qruz

I also still use Styleen's, and I haven't seen a single trinket so far that'd have me switch it out. I have however scrubbed Lifegiving and I'm using Moroes Pocket Watch or sometimes Dabiri's Enigma instead of it.

 

Iol

The dabiri's pretty nice with a 1m30sec cooldown.. i Use mine on fast attack mobs when Holy shield has run out of charges to help with avoiding crushes.

 

Suesse

The subject here is "tank," but more specifically for warriors the Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker(http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29387) is at least situationally pretty awesome. In my +block gear, I'm already up to 415 almost entirely with new world blues. With shield spec, the auto-blocker is 70 block value static and a total of 330 for 20 seconds out of every 2 minutes. In non-heroic level 70 dungeons this amount of block is enough to fully block attacks of some non-bosses. The damage boost this trinket does to shield slam is pretty amazing also.

The engineering trinkets are certainly worth considering as well. I can't really justify using my LGG when I have a 45 static stamina trinket.

I'm currently going Styleen's/Engineering, but I'm only two badges away from the Auto-Blocker. I'll probably go Styleen's/Auto-Blocker for easy content, but stick with the Engineering trinket for hard stuff (stamina crazy guy here)

 

Hozz

I use Styleen's and the Autoblocker. I have the Compass and DFT as well that I will sometimes swap in and out. I think I DEd my Dabri.

 

Riot

With respect to the Autoblocker -

I would posit that the amazing + block value addition is highly valued for the incredible mitigation AND additional threat gen from added damage from Shield Slam.

I'm probably not going to replace my Argussian Compass because of the stam bonus - but is the general consensus that the GAB is superior to the Lucky Pocket Watch?

 

Branar

I think it's a tough call. I generally use Adamantite Figurine (because my defense isn't 490 without it :/) and one of: Moroes, Auto-Blocker, Compass. Personally I think the on-use from Moroes blows the other two out of the water, while the Compass probably has the best passive effect.

For trivial content I wear a block value set with Auto-Blocker and Dabiri's.

 

Okijin

In any important fight block value is trivial. I use LGG and styleens at the moment (can't get the compass to drop). I know LGG isnt a huge HP boost but it is another cooldown to use at all those random time a healers spell is a second off or they are slightly incapacitated (maiden ect). Overtime any of the mitigation trinkets will get rid of more damage but LGG has saved more deaths than i like to think about.

Ideally i'de like moroes' and argussian since the former is the best avoidance trinket out there and the latter is a nice hp buffer.

 

Tszyu

Currently I use Styleens and Adamantine Figurine. I have Moroes', but high dodge has gotten me in trouble a few times. I don't think a replacement will be found for Styleens as the block rating and high defense is great. Not to mention bonus block value.

Personally, I stopped using LGG the second I hit 10k unbuffed. I don't see 1500 hp being worthwhile in a raiding situations when bosses are hitting for 3-6k. I never cared for it as a trinket anyways since I'd take the passive bonuses over it anyday.

My theory on trinkets is using them for defense while stocking my gear with stam enchants/gems instead of defense.

I'm also a huge fan of block. I feel that its on of the best stats you can have, following stam and armor of course. With regards to the Auto Blocker, I think its a fantastic trinket. However, I wouldn't use it unless I'm doing a 5 man or have two pieces of tier 5. Blocking 500-700 of a hit is huge and may have better returns than avoidence.

 

Fellwraith

It all depends on the incoming damage. +254 damage blocked isn't a lot of average mitigation on 8k+ hits. Block doesn't do anything for you against an elemental either. I view the autoblocker as a gimmick dps trinket and a nice toy for farming or surprising the hell out of someone in pvp.

 

Suesse

It's true that the value of block decreases on hard hitting bosses. However, if you are getting two/three-shotted by a hard hitting boss (example auto, special, auto), you can choose to play the odds and stock up on avoidance (very risky) or instead max out your mitigation (armor/block value) of each non-avoided attack and your health. Even on bosses who hit for 8k, the static value of the auto-blocker is significant, 70 block (talented) is 0.875% (almost 1%) reduction on each non-avoided attack. On use, you have a 4.125% reduction on each non-avoided attack. One might argue that 1% damage blocked is better than 1 or 2% avoided. However, it seems the best of all would be to just have higher stamina. My intuition on these fights is to just max out stamina (engineering/compass). I don't like it -- it feels wrong.

 

Jayde

Personally, I think I would lead towards Pocket Watch + Compass or Auto-Blocker rather than continuing to use Styleen's--unless I needed it for reaching 490. I don't view Styleen's as super-strong ATM, even though it is decent.

There were already arguments when it came to Styleen's vs. 2% dodge trinkets back in vanilla WoW, and that's basically what the Pocket Watch is, with an uber Use ability tacked on that somewhat tips the scales.

 

gatz

I use styleen with autoblocker.
I let my lifegiving gem at the bank when I took the autoblocker.

Tonight I let the offtank take moroes watch.

 

flergh

Switched Styleen's for Adamantite Figurine since I had reached 28% block and losing a tiny bit of block value for 90 seconds of extra armor for padding pulls along with the autoblocker.

 

Aramul

Why do Warriors like Styleen's so much? It's got a nice balance of stats, but does the block rating really do anything when Shield Block will cap you out anyway?

 

Juno

3% block, 24 more block value, and 8.5 def is pretty damn hot on one trinket.

I still use it and probably will for some time to come. I also got DFT, Dabiri and I might spend the badges I got on autoblocker. But right now my combo is Styleen and Dabiri cause of the amazing avoidance they both give.

 

Aramul

Okay then, here's what I don't understand. 3% block is meaningless when you have Shield Block up. 24 block value is nearly meaningless when mobs hit for 5k+. 8.5 defense is nice, but beaten by more recent items that have various clicks of varying usefulness. Given the (Defense until 490) > HP > Armor > Dodge > (Defense above 490) > Parry/Block Rating/Value line of thinking I'm seeing in the 12 stam gems thread, I'm just not really seeing how Styleen's is on top of Adamantite Figurine, Moroes, Dawnstone Crab, or the SSC trinket (Argussian being the other "better" trinket).

 

suicuique

Without any trinkets with def ratings, and only STA gems, its not THAT easy to reach crit immunity. At least not when you get some upgrades to your blues (which usually have significant higher DEF than your new epic upgrades).

In short: having one trinket with high def is not unusual to have. And imho styleens beats out dabiris. Besides dont forget that block value is one of the few ways a warrior gets his aggro to scale (gving up 1K HP and gearing block value items, i can go as high as 600+ block value without activating the auto blocker ^^ ... when activating my shield slam hits for 900 noncrit)

 

Jayde

Block% is probably the single weakest stat for a Tanking Warrior to have, hands-down. It is almost totally useless in all but a very small handful of fights.

Other avoidance stats extend the duration of Shield Block, and thus extend your window of protection against crushings and crits. On the other hand, base Block% is totally negated whenever Shield Block is active, and further negated by the ideal situation of other forms of avoidance extending the duration of Shield Block.

Block Value is a good stat due to its usefulness and reliability (2 per 5s from Shield Block at least) and its scaling of Shield Slam, but Block% itself is almost totally useless compared to other mods.

I think the Old Wives Tale of base Block% helping you avoid crushing blows still persists a lot, and thus leads to many Warriors over-valuing Block% as a useful stat. In reality, one's Block% value is only utilized very rarely on bosses and is extremely weak in terms of item budget vs. payoff.

 

Ward

This is the armory of my RL friend who also happens to main tank for our guild:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/ch...arush&n=Prayes

It is clearly reasonable to expect a tank in a guild downing most of the bosses in Kara to be decked out in a similar manner. Since the defense floor of 490 is not really THAT hard to reach even with two Goblin Rocket Launchers. +45 stam **times 2** is really hard to pass up.

By regearing in this way he took Prince from being a dicey proposition to easy mode. Being able to live through the most damage a mob can throw at you is the only way to be sure you're not taking a dirt nap at the end of an encounter. The only way to do that is by stacking stam.

 

Riot

I pretty much agreed, but it was nice to hear it elsewhere.

I really don't think that Styleen's is as good as some people think! I think the Regal Protectorate is even possibly better.

 

Branar

One interesting item is the Timelapse Shard (http://www.thottbot.com/i29181). Obviously the on use effect is mostly useless to a tank (maybe in certain situations where you know an agro wipe for the highest person on the list is coming -- for example, the second boss in heroic SH -- you could use it a few seconds beforehand to let someone else jump ahead?), but it's got resilience in addition to the stam.

If you're simply looking to max your HP while retaining crit immunity, Timelapse might not be a bad choice.

 

Darkmgl

I've been using the Adamantine Figurine and Moroe's Lucky Pocket Watch. I absolutely love the pocket watch, and I'd love to double it up with a Scarab of Displacement in the near future. Unfortunately this character was started after the TBC release so my one regret is that I cannot find a way to get a Styleen's. It is a wonderful trinket, and I would use it over the Adamantine Figurine in a heartbeat.

Luckily for us post TBC tanks the latest revelation seems to be that your combined block/parry/dodge needs to be over 100% to push off crushes rather then simply block alone. So sitting at my 20-21% block chance thus far has worked just fine, I've only noticed crushes when Shield Block is down. If that wasn't true, the Styleen's would become infinitely more valuable as it nearly gives you all the block rating you need combined with a healthy defense boost.

Lately I've been finding opening threat in some fights to be an issue too, namely when theres a very long string (8+) of misses/parries/dodges, so theres certain fights where I would consider the Auto Blocker just to give Shield Slam a little more oomph to allow earlier heavy DPS.

 

Jayde

Honestly, you need 0 Block% to be immune to crushing blows with Shield Block up. It has always been that way. The combat table needs to be full, which is 25% of -any combination- of Miss/Dodge/Parry/Block. As that number is totally trivial to reach, you don't actually need Block% for any particular reason at all. Hence why it is probably the weakest tanking stat overall.

Given that, I have always thought Styleen's was quite overrated.